Levi Wheeler

The Life of Levi Wheeler - My Great Grandfather -- By Ellen Cornwall Anderson

Levi Wheeler was born 5 July 1812, at Greene, Kennebec County, Maine, the son of Simon and Sarah Stevens Wheeler. Simon worked for his father-in-law to be, Jacob Stevens, in Augusta and Lewiston, Maine. After their marriage, Simon and Sarah moved to Greene, Maine, where they bought a home. Several of their children were born at Greene and Leeds towns which were three miles apart. Simon and Sarah moved about considerably and at present we do not know the birthplaces of all their twelve children.

Levi told his family that his people were very early settlers in New England and had lived in Maine a long time, that his father was in the lumber business, and as a boy he helped cut the trees and take the logs down the Kennebec and Penobscot Rivers.

In the summertime, even at sixteen years of age, he went barefooted and bareheaded. He was very light complexioned, as were all the Wheeler family, with blue eyes and light brown hair. He wore his hair trimmed in an even length, what we today call a Dutch cut, his hair was thick and didn’t stay smoothly combed. He had a habit of running his fingers through his hair to try to smooth it down. He grew to a height of six feet and weighed over two hundred pounds. Levi was a happy person, fond of games and sports, active and light on his feet, a very good square dancer.

In Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Levi Wheeler and Mary Ann Wilder Arnold were married, 15 May 1838, by the Reverend Williams Whiting. She was the daughter of Jonathan and Mary Ann Wilder Arnold.

The first child, a son, Levi Lincoln Wheeler, was born there at Abington 22 August 1838. The family moved to Augusta, Kennebec County, Maine, where three more children were born to them, Calvin, 14 August 1840, Almira, 15 May 1843, and George Walton, 30 March 1844. It happened here in Augusta, the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints called at the home of Mary Ann. She was very impressed by what they taught of the gospel. She asked them to return in the evening when Levi would be home to hear their message.

One of the Elders was named George Walton. Levi and Mary Ann were converted and in honor of the Elder who had brought them the gospel, they named their baby George Walton. They were baptized in March of 1845, and the same year moved to Nauvoo, Illinois.

They traveled with a very large group of settlers, some of whom were relatives including Levi’s mother, and brothers Simon, Jacob and Joseph and sister Martha, together with their families. We do not know how many more of the family were converts to the church. They did not stay long at Nauvoo. Their child, Melissa Ann, was born at Lee, Lee County, Illinois 19 April 1847, and three years later at Paw Paw, Illinois, his beloved wife passed away 11 March 1850 of tuberculosis. She is buried in the Paw Paw Grove Cemetery.

The same spring and soon after the death of Mary Ann, Levi, with some of his brothers and relatives, went to California to seek, like others, his fortune in the gold mining. Levi left his five children with relatives who cared for them while he was away.

On his trip to California, Levi drove mules, he preferred them to oxen, as they were tougher and faster on foot. The oxen were slow and could not travel the steep mountains.

Reaching the California gold fields, Levi and his relatives had crossed the entire content in their wagons, having come from Maine to Illinois and then to California.

His work was successful, and he returned with fair reward for his labors. He was able to pay his relatives for the care of his children and also to purchase a most up-to-date sawmill of that time. It was run by steam, burning scrap wood and timber for the fuel. The sawmill was in two parts, the steam engine and the saw and carriage. The steam engine ran the saw by a belt fastened to a pulley on one side of the boiler, which was driven by a large flywheel on the other side of the boiler. When the sawmill was moved it was put on two wagons, saw and carriage on one and steam engine and boiler on another. The carriage as to hold the logs as they were cut. The saw was in the middle of the carriage and the logs were squared and then cut into lumber. This sawmill was the first such modern one to cross the Missouri River and come West.

In 1854, Levi with his young family, his brother Simon, and other relatives, made ready their wagons, provisions, stock, and the sawmill, which alone took two wagons and five yokes of oxen to haul, and came to Utah. His Levi was now nearly sixteen years old. He drove the three yoke of oxen it took to pull the steam engine and boiler part of the sawmill across the plains. Someone else drove the two yoke of oxen it took to pull the saw and carriage part of the sawmill.

Calvin, the second son, nearly fourteen years old, was a scout and night herder, who looked after the horses and cattle and kept a sharp lookout for Indians along the way. Sons Levi, Jr. and Calvin were both private guards for President Brigham Young later in Utah. Almira, about twelve, George, ten, and Melissa, seven, each had their chores to do.

Arriving in Utah the sawmill was first placed at Little Cottonwood Canyon, south of Salt Lake City. Besides the family and relatives, a lot of men worked at the mill. The lumber was hauled about twelve miles over a dusty road by ox teams to Salt Lake City. Many new buildings were being built at that time, as Salt Lake City was growing very fast; and sometimes Levi had to take a share or part ownership in a business or building as payment for the lumber he had furnished, until a later time, as very little money was in circulation and the exchange of produce instead of cash was common among the settlers. While they lived there the children were baptized. Calvin and Almira in 1854; and Levi and Melissa in 1856. The family were members of the Taylor Ward.

Levi was close friends with President Brigham Young and Apostle John Taylor. He and John Taylor bought a thrashing machine together and at one time John owned half interest in the sawmill.

Several old logging trails are still visible on the walls of Little Cottonwood. The largest is a few miles long and runs parallel with the canyon, leaving the stream and gradually climbing the wall of the canyon finally reaching the rim.

About this time Johnston’s Army was moving into Utah. Levi’s sons, Levi, Jr. and Calvin were with Major Lot Smith and his company of men who dug trenches across the canyon, threw up breastworks, loosened rocks on the heights, and prepared to resist Johnston’s Army. They were also with Major Smith at the burning of Johnston’s Army provisions train at Echo Canyon, and took active part in various dangerous raids and stampedes.

The next move was to Ogden, and the sawmill was placed at North Ogden which at that time was a beautiful grove of timber. Levi made each of his sons a foreman in charge of the men who worked with them; and often told his boys, “A boss has to do two men’s work, his own share of the work, and do the supervising too.”

Levi, Jr. was in charge of logging the timbers out, and getting them down to the stream. They would take the oxen and a two wheeled cart up and fasten the large ends of the logs on the cart and drag them down the mountainside to the stream. Calvin was in charge of getting the logs down the river to the mill. George was in charge of sawing the lumber at the mill. As the trees were used up, the mill was moved closer to the timber from North Ogden to Ogden Canyon, on to Wheeler Creek, and Snow Basin or Wheeler Basin.

Levi owned the first lumber yard in Ogden City, and he owned an interest in some business places there for which he had furnished material. He was a very close friend to Lyman Farr who was president over the Bishops Wards of Ogden. At this time he was a very wealthy man.

Simon, his brother, owned a sawmill in Ogden Canyon. It was different from the one owned by Levi, as it had a long saw that sawed up and down, and the one owned by Levi was round and had a big flywheel on the side of the engine which kept up the speed when the logs were very big, or the work was very heavy.

Because of the deep snow and ice on the river the mill had to close in wintertime. The boys found other work, Levi, Jr. freighted from Butte, Montana to Salt Lake City, Utah. They went to Promontory Point and got cedar fence posts to sell at Ogden. At different times Levi did construction work and built canals, and his sons worked with him.

Brother Jacob’s son, Beniah, visited his Uncle Levi when he went to California in 1859, 1879 and again in 1884. Levi and some of his friends of Utah accompanied Beniah on his first trip to Plumas County, California. The facilities for mining were very limited which meant exceedingly hard labor for the seekers of wealth. Levi and his friends returned to their homes in Utah after having been away about two years.

In the year 1861, Levi married Mrs. Jeanette Gillespie, nee Sinclair, and Margaret McAlpine Miller on the same day in the old Endowment House in Salt Lake City. Jeanette had two children, William and Annie, by a former marriage when she married Levi. A son, Lorin, was born to them and Jeanette died when he was a tiny baby.

Margaret had heard the gospel when she was in Scotland and had tried to get her husband to join the church. He would not join, so Margaret came to America alone. She was an old lady when she married Levi, and a room was given to her in the home, and she was taken care of where she kept house for herself. She lived until Levi’s older children were married and had their first babies. She was lovingly called Scotch Grandma, because she loved Levi’s grandchildren dearly. She helped care for them, rocked their cradles, and sang Scotch lullabies to them. The young mothers learned the lullabies and sang them to their children who still remember them and sing them. Margaret passed away 5 March 1872.

In 1865, Levi married Phoebe Roxy Perry at the Salt Lake Endowment House. She was a young woman, and eight children were born to this happy union. They were Mary Ann, Josiah, Leroy, Sarah, Almeda, Ida, Survina, and Bertha, the last three were born at Lewiston, Utah.

The Perry’s were very poor people, and Levi looked after his wife’s people also. When he bought for her, he bought for them. Some of the Perrys and Levi’s nephew, Levi Smith, worked at the mill. Levi was very good to his wife and family, and she had everything that could be given to a pioneer home. She was among the few women who wore silk dresses in those days.

He built a lovely log home for her where the Weber College now stands. It was large and roomy, and the furnishings were the best that could be had at that time. The fireplace was between the rooms and heated the whole house. Lorin was with the family, and helped about the mill and did errands. The older children were all married while living here in Ogden. Levi received his Patriarchal Blessing under the hands of Patriarch Charles W. Hyde, 23 May 1871, in Ogden, Utah.

About 1876, all the family of Levi moved to Lewiston, along the Bear River. He was an old man by now, but he put three yokes of oxen to the plow and drove them holding the plow himself, although his land was tough meadow sod which is hard to break.

Lorin had married and moved to Montana. Levi sold the sawmill to his sons Calvin and George about the year 1884. He could saddle a horse and ride just like a young man until the last few months of his life.

Levi went to Paw Paw, Illinois in the year 1863, when his mother died. Some of his relatives came to Utah to visit him, one was his sister, Martha, whose son, Levi Smith, worked at the mill. Jacob’s son, Beniah, visited his Uncle Levi.

Levi was a kind, gentle man, generous and loving, a hard worker and a friend to everyone. He was tactful and often called upon to settle problems of others because of his understanding way. His wife, Phoebe, said that never in his life did he speak an unkind word to her or anyone she knew. He even took time in his busy pioneer life to teach her to read and write. He used his means to make life comfortable for his family. He was a wise economist but a generous man, modest, plain, and sincere. He was a hospitable man who kept his hearth fires bright, and the latch string was always out, for he loved company. He was always strong, hale, and hearty. He came of the good New England stock among the citizens of Maine. He understood the ways of the Indians.

He made good because of the rugged fiber of his frame, the iron determination of his will, and because he gave the best that was in him to his work. The success of his business brought him a very wide circle of friends.

Levi Wheeler died on the Sabbath Day, 31 January 1886. He is buried in the Lewiston, Utah Cemetery.

After the death of Levi, the mill was sold by Calvin and George to Hank (Henry) Palmer; they received some horses as part of the payment at the time. The boiler was inspected every year and was still good. Hank Palmer put the sawmill on Dempsey Creek, far up in the mountains. Later he moved it to a stream called Marsh Creek, which flows westward and comes down from the mountains near Downey. At that time the mill would saw two thousand feet of lumber a day. It was the largest of several sawmills owned by Hank Palmer. In the year 1897, Charles Bell went to work at the mill. He said it was sure an old timer.

Leaving the boiler part of the sawmill in the mountains on Marsh Creek, where it is believed to be still laying, Hank Palmer moved the saw part of the mill to Portneuf near Black Rock and close to where the State Highway checking station now is. He used the saw here with another boiler until 1931, and all this time Charley Bell worked for him at the mill.

In 1931, Charley Bell took over the mill and moved it up the Portneuf River to Inkom, and placed it on Rabbit Creek where it is believed to have been scrapped.

These facts have been related by Levi Wheeler and his children to their children and grandchildren.

I am grateful to them for this history. Ellen Cornwall Anderson

Wheeler Canyon up Ogden Canyon was named for him. (Per Idonna Bennett Brower's memory as told to E. Richard Brower on 17 Jan 1998.)

Sketch of the Life of Levi Wheeler

Most of this sketch is taken from a sketch written by Ellen Cornwall Anderson, a great granddaughter of Levi Wheeler, related to her by his children and grandchildren, and some of it as told to a granddaughter, Phebe A. Robinson, by her mother. Levi Wheeler was born July 5, 1812, at Greene, Androscoggin, Maine, the son of Simon and Sarah Stevens Wheeler. Simon had worked for his father-in-law to be, Jacob Stevens in Augusta and Lewiston, Maine, but after his marriage he moved to Greene, Maine, later to Leeds, Maine, where most of his children were born, and then to several other places in Maine. It is said that Simon and Sarah had 12 children.

Levi told his family that his people were very early settlers in New England and had lived in Maine a long time, that his father was in the lumber business and as a boy had helped cut the trees and take the logs down the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers.

In the summertime, even at sixteen years of age, he went bare footed and bareheaded. He had blue eyes and light brown hair which was thick and never smoothly combed as he had the habit of running his fingers through it. He was six feet tall and weighed over two hundred pounds. Levi was a happy person, fond of games and sports, active and light on his feet, and a very good square dancer.

In Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Levi Wheeler and Mary Ann Wilder Arnold were married May 15, 1838, by the Reverend William Whiting. She was the daughter of Jonathan Arnold and Mary Wilder Damon. Their first child, a son, Levi Lincoln Wheeler, was born there at Abington, Massachusetts, August 22, 1838. The family then moved to Augusta, Maine, where three more children were born to them, Calvin, Almira, and George Walton.

It happened here in Augusta, the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints called at the home and Mary Ann was very impressed by what they taught, and she was very desirous to hear and understand the doctrines of the Gospel. She asked them to return in the evening when Levi would be home to hear their message. They were baptized in March of 1845, and the same year moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. They traveled with a very large group of settlers, some of whom were relatives. They did not stay long at Nauvoo. Their last child, Melissa Ann, was born at Lee, Lee County, Illinois. Levi’s beloved wife passed away March 1, 1850, of tuberculosis. She is buried in the
Pawpaw Grove Cemetery.

The same spring and soon after the death of Mary Ann, Levi with some of his brothers and relatives went to California to seek, like others, his fortune in the gold mines. He left his five children with relatives or friends who cared for them while he was away. Levi Jr. worked days for his keep and attended school at night while his father was away. On this trip to California Levi drove mules, he preferred them to oxen as they were tougher and faster on foot.

Reaching the California gold fields, Levi and relatives had crossed the entire continent in their wagons having come from Maine to Illinois and then to California. His work was successful, and he returned with fair reward for labors. He was able to pay his relatives for the care of his
children and also to purchase a most up-to-date sawmill at that time. It was run by steam, burning scrap wood and timber for fuel. The sawmill was in two parts, the steam engine and the saw and carriage. The steam engine ran the saw by a belt fastened to a pully on one side of the boiler.

When the sawmill was moved it was put in two wagons, saw and carriage on one and steam engine and boiler on another. The carriage was to hold the logs as they were cut.

The saw was in the middle of the carriage and the logs were squared and then cut into lumber. This sawmill was the first such modern one to cross the Missouri River and come west.

In 1854, Levi with his young family made ready provisions, wagons, stock and the sawmill, which alone took two wagons and five yokes of oxen to haul and came to Utah. His son, Levi Jr. was nearly sixteen years old. He drove the three yoke of oxen it took to pull the steam engine and boiler part of the sawmill across the plains. Someone else drove the two yoke of oxen it took to pull the saw and carriage part of the sawmill.

Calvin, the second son, nearly 14 years old, was a scout and night herder, who looked after the horses and cattle and kept a sharp look out for Indians along the way. Levi Jr. and Calvin were both private guards for President Brigham Young later in Utah. Almira about 12, George 10 and Melissa 7, each had their chores to do.

Arriving in Utah the sawmill was first placed at Little Cottonwood Canyon, south of Salt Lake City.

Besides the family and some relatives, a lot of men worked at the mill.  The lumber was hauled about 12 miles over dusty road by ox teams, to Salt Lake City.  Many new buildings were being built at that time as Salt Lake City was growing very fast, and sometimes Levi had to take a share or part ownership in a business or building as payment for the lumber he had furnished until a later time, as very little money was in circulation and exchange of produce instead of cash was common among the settlers.  While they lived there the children were baptized; Calvin and Almira in 1854 and Levi and Melissa in 1856.  The family were members of he Taylor Ward.

Levi was close friends with President Brigham Young and Apostle John Taylor. He and John Taylor bought a threshing machine together and at one time John owned half interest in the sawmill.

Several old logging trails are still visible on the walls of Little Cottonwood. The largest is a few miles long and runs parallel with the canyon, leaving the stream and gradually climbing the wall of the canyon and finally reaching the rim.

About this time Johnston’s Army was moving into Utah. Levi’s sons, Levi Jr. and Calvin, were with Major Lot Smith and his company of men who dug trenches across the canyon, threw up breastworks, loosened rocks on the heights and prepared to resist the army. They were also with Major Smith at the burning of Johnson’s army provisions train at Echo Canyon and took an active part in various dangerous raids and stampedes.

The next move was to Ogden, and the sawmill was placed at North Ogden which at that time was a beautiful grove of timber. Levi made each of his sons a foreman in charge of the men who worked with them, and often told his boys, “A boss has to do two men's work, his own share of the work and do the supervising too.”

When Levi came to Ogden there was no road or train in Ogden Canyon. He took his oldest son, Levi, and the oxen, and went up in the canyon and made the first road that was built there. From North Ogden, Levi moved his sawmill to Ogden Canyon and onto Wheeler Creek
and Snow Basin or Wheeler Basin.

Levi Jr. was in charge of logging the timbers out and getting them down the stream. They would take the oxen and a two wheeled cart up the steep trails, fasten the large end of the logs on the cart, and drag them down the mountain side to the stream. Calvin was in charge of floating the logs down the river to the mill. George was in charge of sawing the lumber at the mill. As the trees were used up the mill was moved closer to the timber.

Levi owned the first lumber yard in Ogden City, and he owned an interest in some of the business places there for which he had furnished material. He was a very close friend to Lyman Farr who was president over the bishops' wards at Ogden. At this time, he was a very wealthy.

Simon, Levi’s brother, had come to Ogden also and he owned a sawmill in Ogden County. (Later a hermitage was built at this site) It was different from the one owned by Levi as it had a long saw that sawed up and down, the one owned by Levi was round and had a fly wheel on the side of the engine which kept up the speed when the logs were very big, or the work was very heavy.

Because of the deep snow and ice on the river the sawmill had to be closed in the wintertime. The boys found other work, Levi Jr. freighted from Butte, Montana to Salt Lake City, Utah. They went to Promontory Point and got cedar fence posts to sell at Ogden. At different times Levi did construction work and built canals, and his sons worked with him. Levi’s brother Jacob’s son Beniah visited his Uncle Levi when he went to California in 1859, 1879 and again in 1884. Levi and some of his Utah friends accompanied Beniah on his first trip to Plumas County, California.

The facilities for mining were very limited which meant exceedingly hard labors for the seeking of wealth. Levi and his friends returned to their homes in Utah after having been away about 2 years.

In the year 1861, Levi was sealed to Mrs. Jeanette Gillispie, nee Sinclair, and Mrs. Margaret Miller, nee McAlpine, on the same day in the old Endowment House in Salt Lake City. Jeanette had two children, William and Annie, by a former marriage when she married Levi. A son Lorin was born to them, and Jeanette died when he was a tiny baby.

Margaret had heard the gospel when she was in Scotland and had tried to get her husband to join the church. He would not join, so Margaret came to America alone. She was an old lady when she married Levi, and a room was given her in the home and she was taken care of, where she kept house for herself. She lived until Levi’s older children were married and had their first babies. She was lovingly called Scotch Grandma because she loved Levi’s grandchildren dearly. She helped care for them, rocked their cradles and sang Scotch lullabies to them. The young mothers learned many of the lullabies and sang them to their children who still remember them and sing them. Margaret
passed away March 5, 1872, and is buried in the Ogden City Cemetery. In 1865 Levi married Phebe Roxy Perry at the Salt Lake Endowment House. She was a young woman and to them were born 8 children, Mary Ann, Josiah, LeRoy, Sarah, Almeda, Ida, Sarvina and Bertha. The
last three children were born at Lewiston, Utah. The Perrys were very poor people and Levi looked after his wife’s people also. When he bought for her, he bought for her parents also.

Some of the Perrys and Levi’s nephew, Levi Smith, worked at the mill and at Calvin’s butcher shop in Ogden. Levi was very good to his wife and family, and she had everything that could be given to a pioneer home. She was among the few women who wore silk dresses in those pioneer days. Levi built a lovely log home in Ogden on the lot where the Weber College was first built. It was large and roomy, and the furnishings were the best that could be had at that time. The place. was between the rooms and heated the whole house. This fireplace placed between the rooms was novel and many people came to see it. Lorin was with the family and helped about the mill and did errands. The older children were all married while living in Ogden. Levi received his patriarchal blessing under the hands of Patriarch Charles W. Hyde May 23, 1871, in Ogden. About 1876 all the family of Levi moved to Lewiston, Utah, along the Bear River. He was an old man by now, but he put three yokes of oxen to the plow and drove them, holding the plow himself, although his land was tough meadow sod which was hard to break. He could saddle a horse and ride just like a young man until the last few months of his life.

Levi went to Pawpaw, Illinois in the year 1863 when his mother died.

Some of his relatives came to Utah to visit him, one was his sister, Martha Smith, whose son Levi Smith worked at the mill. His brothers Jacob and Joseph had also been in Utah and went with Levi to the gold rush in California.

Lorin married and moved to Montana. Levi sold the sawmill to his sons Calvin and George about the year 1884. The sawmill had been moved from Ogden Canyon up Cub River and later to Sugar Creek near Franklin, Idaho, and the boys ran it.

Levi and his brothers and sisters and relatives loved each other dearly, and this love of kindred remained through the years though they were apart.

Levi was a kind, gentle man, generous and loving, a hard worker and a friend to everyone. He was tactful and often called upon to settle the problems of others because of his understanding way.

His wife Phebe said that never in his life did he speak an unkind word to her or to anyone she knew. He even took time in this busy pioneer life to teach her to read and write. He used his means to make life comfortable for his family, a wise economist but a generous man, modest, plain and sincere. He was a hospitable man and kept the latch string out for he loved company. The success of his business brought him a wide circle of friends. He was strong, hale and hearty. He came of that good New England stock among the citizens of Maine. His people could speak the Indian language, and he knew and understood the ways of the Indians. Levi died on the Sabbath day January 31, 1886. He is buried in the Lewiston, Utah cemetery. After the death of Levi, the mill was sold by Calvin and George to Hank (Henry) Palmer; they received some horses as part of the payment at the time. The boiler was inspected every year and was still good. Hank Palmer put the sawmill on Dempsey Creek, far up in the mountains. Later he moved it to a stream called Marsh Creek, which is south of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, which flows westward and comes down from the mountains near Downey. At that time the mill would saw two thousand feet of lumber a day. It was the largest of several sawmills owned by Hank Palmer. In the year 1897 Charles Bell went to work at the mill; he said it was sure an old timer.
Leaving the boiler part of the sawmill in the mountains on Marsh Creek, where it is believed to be still laying, Hank Palmer moved the saw part to Portneuf near Black Rock, and close to where the State Highway checking station now is. He used the saw here with another boiler until 1931, and all this time Charley Bell worked for him at the mill. In 1931 Charley Bell took over the mill and moved it up the Portneuf River to Inkom and placed it on Rabbit Creek where it joins the Portneuf River. He operated it for two years. Then one of his sons ran the mill for a few years. After that it is believed to have been scrapped.